3-point barrage sinks Buccaneers

Published: Saturday, December 15, 2012 at 12:50 AM.

“We wanted to get back on track, first conference game,” Williams said. “(Wednesday night) was over. We needed to come out and prove a point that we can be good.”

Bowden said: “We’re going to press every game, regardless of who we play against. Our press is what we feed off of. When we get our shots, that’s what we’re going to do, press, press, press. Regardless of who you are.”

It was a pressure defense that Bartlett Yancey coach John Mitchell said fits the Red Devils.

“For sure, Mike’s got the right personnel to apply that pressure,” Mitchell said. “Of course, he does a good job anyway. It’s meant to speed you up and that’s what it does. Makes you turnover, too.”

Those turnovers led the way for Graham to hold a 65-32 lead at halftime.

Turner said the team thought about reaching the 100-point mark “probably at halftime” in the locker room.

Graham’s largest lead came a few minutes into the second half, when it led by 38 points. Instead of slowing down — despite Williams rotating all 14 players into the game — Graham continued to play at a high level and kept hurdling toward the century mark.

GRAHAM — The Graham boys’ basketball team had already established its deadliness from 3-point range going into Friday night’s game against Bartlett Yancey.

But even the Red Devils reached a new level for their season against the Buccaneers.

Graham hit 19 shots from 3-point range en route to a 107-78 victory against Bartlett Yancey in the Mid-State 2-A Conference opener for each team.

The 107 points tied a school record, accomplished two other times (both against North Carolina School of Science and Math).

“We were just trying to make a statement in conference,” Graham’s Troy Bowden said. “It’s a big win for us because we didn’t know anything about them, so we just came out trying to execute on offense.”

Turner used a blazing start in which he scored 10 points in game’s first two minutes to boost Graham to a 14-2 lead. The Red Devils never trailed and led by at least 10 points for the rest of the game after Turner hit a 3 with 6:44 left in the first quarter.

“It kind of got me hyped, ready to play,” Turner said of his quick start.

Graham forced six turnovers in the game’s first four minutes with its full-court pressure, and it was Turner’s initial burst that gave Bowden and the rest of the Red Devils an early surge that never really diminished.

“We all feed off each other. When Antonio hit 10 back-to-back points, I just came in and fed off his energy,” Bowden said.

The clearest example of that was Bowden’s first two shots — both 3s separated by 12 seconds — which were assisted by Turner.

Coming off a 61-47 defeat against Vic Metro, an Australian traveling team, on Wednesday night, this was the game that Graham coach Mike Williams was looking for.

“We wanted to get back on track, first conference game,” Williams said. “(Wednesday night) was over. We needed to come out and prove a point that we can be good.”

Bowden said: “We’re going to press every game, regardless of who we play against. Our press is what we feed off of. When we get our shots, that’s what we’re going to do, press, press, press. Regardless of who you are.”

It was a pressure defense that Bartlett Yancey coach John Mitchell said fits the Red Devils.

“For sure, Mike’s got the right personnel to apply that pressure,” Mitchell said. “Of course, he does a good job anyway. It’s meant to speed you up and that’s what it does. Makes you turnover, too.”

Those turnovers led the way for Graham to hold a 65-32 lead at halftime.

Turner said the team thought about reaching the 100-point mark “probably at halftime” in the locker room.

Graham’s largest lead came a few minutes into the second half, when it led by 38 points. Instead of slowing down — despite Williams rotating all 14 players into the game — Graham continued to play at a high level and kept hurdling toward the century mark.